Counting Calories

Sometimes when I think about living a frugal lifestyle, I'm struck by its similarities to dieting. Both require extreme self-discipline. Both require attention to detail. Both are difficult.

I'm currently on a quest to get more exercise. My current goal is to do some form of exercise 30 minutes a day, three times a week. I plan to extend that time as I get more in shape. Eventually I will be attacking my less than stellar diet. But for now, I am working on fitness. One of the biggest things I've learned about being debt-free (except for my house) is that it is best to set specific, realistic goals. If I can have some success at the smaller goals, I can build momentum to attack the larger ones.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a dork. I like numbers. I like statistics. So I like Calories Per Hour. This FREE website has calculators that will tell you how many calories you burned doing a particular activity (30 minutes of computer typing burns 51 calories - WOO HOO!).

Calories Per Hour also has calculators to help you figure out how many calories your consuming and how long it will take you to reach your weight loss goal. I like that I can see exactly how my activity is adding up to help me reach my goals.

This healthy and frugal lifestyle stuff seems simple enough. To lose weight, simply expend more calories than you consume. To have personal financial success, you must earn more than you spend. These two things are similar and they both require major self-discipline. The key to success is to keep your eyes on the end result. Never lose site of the goals.

If this were easy, we'd all be rich and skinny. Time to go lace up my sneakers.